You don’t need me to tell you 2025 has been a meat grinder of a year. The vultures are circling and the canteen is empty. The wolves aren’t in the hen house… they’ve burnt it down. I suspect that things are going to get worse before they get better. But at this juncture, at least we have something to be thankful for. Pulp have announced a new album called “More” for release this June 6th on Rough Trade.

I got mixed signals when “After You” first appeared in 2011-2013 but it was soon apparent that it was just a leftover song finished off and set free from its tape cupboard. Fun, but only a small investment by the band. The thought of a new album evaporated with the morning dew. The band have played several tours over the years, including one in The States last year that I am just discovering right now [grrrrrrr]. But seeing how we had the big Eurotour last year, there wouldn’t have been any vacation time to jet off to Chicago to see the best British group standing, though a man can dream.

So the album is now in preorder in all of the main formats. There’s the de riguer handful of LP variants, CD, and even Compact Cassette™ but thankfully, all of them each hold the exact same eleven songs. So there’s none of that format pimping going on here! We’ll be buying the CD, of course. The least expensive of the formats available. And here’s the songs it will contain.

Pulp: More. – US – CD [2025]

1. Spike Island 4:42
2. Tina 3:32
3. Grown Ups 5:56
4. Slow Jam 5:06
5. Farmers Market 4:30
6. My Sex 4:25
7. Got to Have Love 4:52
8. Background Noise 3:41
9. Partial Eclipse 4:38
10. The Hymn of the North 5:40
11. A Sunset 3:14

Nice to see the last album, “We Love Life,” ended with “Sunrise” now this one ends with “A Sunset.” And it looks like Jarvis Cocker is copping song titles from John Foxx. He’d better have some aces up his sleeve if he thinks he’s going to best the Ultravox! classic. But I’ve got faith in the plucky l’il guy. He’s been known to pull classics out of his notebook.

The first single has already dropped. It’s called “Spike Island” and I’m going against my anti-Alphabet stance and dropping in the live performance of it on the venerable Jonathan Ross show below.

Very tasty, clearly Metapop music about the idea of them returning with gorgeous guitar and a kicky Discoclap backbeat to set it all off. I love the lyrical quote calling out to the divisive final Mott album recorded bereft of Ian Hunter. Obviously they didn’t make the cut for inclusion in “Bad Cover Version” on the last album, but he’s obviously still thinking about it. And the growling synths of Candida Doyle in the middle eight were slyly self-deprecating to the whole affair. A knowing sonic eye-roll. So we can’t wait for the Full Monty in June. Here are the formats below, including the Rough trade web store exclusives.

• CD – $14.00
• Cassette – $16.00
• Black LP – $26.00

• Theresa Green LP – $28.00

• Isha Kryia Ink Spot LP – $40 [exclusive]
• 2x Black LP – $45.00 [exclusive]

The band lost bassist Steve Mackey when he died in 2023. The new album is dedicated in his memory and bass duties have been performed by Andrew McKinney since. And the band will be performing a handful of dates across the globe this year.

PULP 2025 WORLD TOUR

• June 7 | Glasgow OVO Hydro | Scotland
• June 10 | Dublin 3Arena | Ireland
• June 13 | London The O2 | England
• June 14 | London The O2 | England
• June 19 | Birmingham Ulitia Arena | England
• June 21 | Manchester Co-Op Live | England
• July 10 | Bilbao BBK Live | Spain
• July 14 | Montreaux Jazz Festival | Switzerland
• July 25 | Sheffield Tramlines | England
• Aug 15 | St. Malo La Route Du Rock | France
• Sept 25 | Hollywood Bowl | USA [w/LCD Soundsystem]
• Sept 26 | Hollywood Bowl | USA [w/LCD Soundsystem]

There we have it. A neat and tidy tour of worldwide hotspots. Two big weeks in the UK and surgical gigs worldwide following. Maybe South America has a right to grumble. I see that they will be playing the Hollywood bowl on my birthday, so if anyone wants to give me a present…you couldn’t do much better than that! With travel and lodging expenses, of course! [laughs self-mockingly] So all we need now is the music. If your mouse finger is itching, then DJ hit that button!

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